Reading in Fantasy and Horror April 2015

[Hobbit]

Here's where you tell us about what you've been reading in Fantasy and Horror this month. Good or bad, we want to know what you think.

Mark

 

[Evil Agent]

I'm reading Wheel of Time 13, Towers of Midnight. I'm just past halfway, and it's great. Fast paced, and entertaining.

I've been pretty impressed with Sanderson's work, since the previous one. There are occasional awkward moments, but overall it's been pretty seamless... and honestly an improvement over the last few Jordan books. Looking forward to finishing the series (finally!) over the next month or so.

 

[suciul]

I finished Son of the Black Sword by L. Correia, the first foray of the currently famous author into the epic genre; while fairly predictable and fitting perfectly into the current grimdark epic scene - somehow given the author's reputation I expected something different and more interesting to be honest and I was really eager to read this one as I am not into urban fantasy so have no interest in the books that made him famous - the book kept me interested till the end which is more than i could say about so many current fantasy series.

Its complete self-seriousness without the irony of Abercrombie or the dark and cynical humor of KJ Parker (which for me at least are by far the best writers of grimdark today) and the one note world building (Indian based with castes and names but not gods) which lacked the breadth of David Hair's outstanding Moontide Quartet, left the novel a bit short of my top tier fantasies, though I plan to at least take a look at the sequel, though I have to say I am far less intrigued about it than I was about this one (accurate blurb and the Baen free sample available, some 13 chapters in all should give a very good idea about both the subject and the writing style)

Overall - straight out grimdark, nothing that special with better out there, but not bad either and interesting enough to keep me reading till the end and wanting to take a look at more in the series

 

[Luke_B]

I've started The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro and it's great so far.

 

[Erfael]

I owe a few posts in the "Reading in..." threads.

I finished up Butcher's Turn Coat sometime last month. It was my favorite Dresden book so far. I feel like a lot of things that had been brewing for some time finally came to a head in interesting ways. I'd have liked to see a little more upheaval to the status quo by the end, but I'm satisfied with it overall. Don't feel I can say much more than that without getting a little spoilery.

Since then I've started listening to Williams's Happy Hour in Hell, the second of the Bobby Dollar books. I'm finding it pretty disappointing. It's not that it's a bad book. It's just that it's so different from the first book, which I liked a fair deal. That was an urban fantasy with the main character an angel on Earth and dealing with how Heaven/Hell politics play out on Earth. Book two is the main character's quest into Hell to retrieve something he wants. It's not a bad book at all, but I had about 14 hours of driving to do over the last two weeks and it's not really what I wanted to listen to, a travelogue of all the nasty things he comes across in Hell. I'll definitely look more closely at these before I count on them being something I'd like to be stuck with on a long drive. (Edit: Just had a look at Goodreads, and the ratings are pretty low for this one. Turns out a lot of people don't like it, even when they're not stuck in the car with it for hours...)

And in actual paper, I'm now reading Kate Elliot's Prince of Dogs. Quite happy with it so far, though I'm only a little over a hundred pages in. Picks up right where the previous one left off and is very cozy epic fantasy.

 

[Ryan Mueller]

ISince then I've started listening to Williams's Happy Hour in Hell, the second of the Bobby Dollar books. I'm finding it pretty disappointing. It's not that it's a bad book. It's just that it's so different from the first book, which I liked a fair deal. That was an urban fantasy with the main character an angel on Earth and dealing with how Heaven/Hell politics play out on Earth. Book two is the main character's quest into Hell to retrieve something he wants. It's not a bad book at all, but I had about 14 hours of driving to do over the last two weeks and it's not really what I wanted to listen to, a travelogue of all the nasty things he comes across in Hell. I'll definitely look more closely at these before I count on them being something I'd like to be stuck with on a long drive. (Edit: Just had a look at Goodreads, and the ratings are pretty low for this one. Turns out a lot of people don't like it, even when they're not stuck in the car with it for hours...)

I think I ended up liking Happy Hour in Hell because I came in knowing what I was going to get. If you go in expecting more of the same, you're going to be disappointed. I actually thought Williams wrote it very well. It's about Hell. I think it was his intention for it to feel torturous at times. Perhaps that wasn't the greatest strategic choice, but I think I understand what he was trying to do.

 

[Ryan Mueller]

Finished Control Point by Myke Cole. I really enjoyed this one. I'd never read modern-day military fantasy before, and it was a lot of fun. It also had some deeper themes and a very conflicted main character (though some people found this to be inconsistency rather than conflict).

 

[Luke_B]

I finished The Buried Giant by Kazuo Ishiguro. A very interesting book, which I liked a good deal for the most part, except that its allegorical nature made it hard for me to really immerse myself in the lives of the characters or the plot. I plan to do a review for SFFWorld so will say more then, but defintiely a book worth seeking out if a mainstream literary approach to fantasy is of interest.

Now reading A Darker Shade of Magic by Victoria Schwab which Mr Yon reviewed for SFFWorld recently. First chapter down and the world seems intruiging and the writing smooth. Also beautiful cover design on the Tor edition.

 

[Erfael]

I think I ended up liking Happy Hour in Hell because I came in knowing what I was going to get. If you go in expecting more of the same, you're going to be disappointed. I actually thought Williams wrote it very well. It's about Hell. I think it was his intention for it to feel torturous at times. Perhaps that wasn't the greatest strategic choice, but I think I understand what he was trying to do.

I understand, too. And I'd probably have liked it in print. But as my on-the-road entertainment for the last few weeks, it just didn't do the trick. I finished it this morning.

Some spoilers follow:

SPOILER:

Spoiler

Bobby was an absolute idiot at the end. Ellegore (sp? I listened to the book...) was so obviously pulling the letter of the contract not spirit of the contract trick in handing over "this woman" rather than "Cas". It was pretty blatantly stupid for an otherwise savvy protagonist. Oh, well. I'll probably check out the third book, but not too soon.

 

[NickeeCoco]

For the past months my reading material has been school related. Very dry stuff about economics, statistics and behaviour modification. Ugh. So, whether it's smart or not, a couple weeks before finals, I've started to reread Elizabeth Moon's Paladin's Legacy books, so everything is fresh for the final book, Crown of Renewal.

I'm only on the first book, Oath of Fealty, and I have to say I'm enjoying it a lot more the second time. I don't have that "I'm so excited, I need to know what happens!" mindset and am not speed reading. This book goes fast enough on its own, it doesn't need me to help it. I think that sometimes a scene could be fleshed out a bit more. It does seem like a succession of short scenes. I've got nothing against short scenes, but so many in a row can make it feel a bit disjointed.

It is really nice to read for pleasure. School, the first time around, had enjoyable reading as it was poetry. This going to school for something practical thing isn't high on the fun meter. At least its reading isn't.

 

[Westy]

Read the first part of Theft of Swords, the first book of Michael Sullivan's Riyria Revelations. A very enjoyable, easy to read and fairly light traditional-type fantasy, with some some likeable characters.

It's a very "safe" type of story - all happy endings with minimal blood, gore or swearing (which is as the author intended) - but looking forward to further reading.

 

[suciul]

Finished Grace of Kings, the hyped novelistic debut of Ken Liu; here is my Goodreads review starting with the conclusion:

"Overall - ingenious and impressive world building with a realistic sense of how power works, but a detached, mostly impersonal, chronicle style writing that lacks power and renders the novel kind of forgettable with characters that could have been very impressive if shown but not mostly told so


superb world building - here the hype and accolades are utterly justified - and a fairly "realistic" storyline which can be summed to "power corrupts" as pretty much all the characters who come into it succumb to temptation to impose their own way of thinking on the world even with the best of motives ("unify the land to avoid ceaseless war and suffering", "restore the traditions", "give truly power to the less well off" etc), some because they believe their way is the only way and their (current) success shows that is indeed the "right" way and the will of gods, some others simply from fear that if they do not so, others coveting what they have will act against them...

Interspersing short vignettes with the past and motivation of quite a few characters outside the main ones works very well and adds to the richness.

However, there were two issues, one I could have maybe overlooked, but one really major, that prevented this novel from being a top tier fantasy for me

- as the author really wants to make this a work of fantasy rather than a sort of alt-history modeled on the warring states of China, he introduces gods who act/do not act (a bit unclear why either) representing the lands of the story, their squabbles and interventions in the mortal world, sometimes just through dreams and prophecies, sometimes more directly; that worked in Homer sure, but doesn't work here as they simply do not integrate well into the story, take quite a lot from it, and not least give a sense of artificial-ness to everything

- the major issue for me though was the writing style; easy to read but very impersonal, chronicle style ("he did that", "she did that", "that happened"); occasionally there are excellent bits of dialogue that show the author can write impressive stuff, but most of the book is way too distant and impersonal for my taste at least"

 

[Raule]

I'm reading Stranger by Rachel Manija Brown and Sherwood Smith and thoroughly enjoying it. It's an action-packed, post-apocalyptic YA series. I've picked up the follow-up book to read next. There are four books planned for this series.

 

[Spears&Buckler]

Started Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan a few days ago. This one will complete the re-read portion of the Wheel of Time for me. Though I'm enjoying this one, I'm really looking forward to the final 3 volumes which I haven't read before.

 

[cgw]

Reading The autumn republic by Brian McClellan. This wraps up the trilogy I think. I'm more than half way through. We will see. There are still a lot of loose ends.

 

[NickeeCoco]

Been sick, so I've just been laying in bed and intermittently reading and sleeping. Finished both books 1 and 2 of Paladin's Legacy, Oath of Fealty and Kings of the North. I am now on the third, Echoes of Betrayal by Moon. I really am enjoying these a lot more the second time around. And I really do think it's because I'm not in that "I've been waiting for this book to come out and I am so excited" mode. I'm not racing through them. I'm actually reading every word. Also, because I am reading them back to back I am not trying to remember what happened in the previous book like when I was reading them as they were published.

I really enjoy the idea of these books. I like how they explore the aftermath of a hero's deeds. How do people deal with the repercussions?

 

[Contrarius]

Feel better soon, Nicky!

After a string of sf novels in my "read female authors" challenge, I'm now in the middle of a good fantasy -- Range of Ghosts by Elizabeth Bear. I'm quite enjoying it. It's got intriguing worldbuilding, including the ways in which the differing cosmologies/mythologies/religions/magic systems interact. For instance, a city under the influence of one religion/magic system actually has a different sky -- different stars, different moons, different movement of the sun -- than a city under a different religion/system. Things that make ya go hmmm. And I also like the MCs, who feel quite human in their doubts and imperfections and the details told about them. Good stuff so far.

 

[Bacchus]

The last two days I've been reading "Master of Whitestorm" by Janny Wurts and am thoroughly enjoying this old-school adventure fantasy.

 

[bard`s song]

Not Fantasy/Horror but I started "Sworn Sword" by James Aitcheson. Good one.

 

[Westy]

Stayed up a bit later than usual last night to finish The Mechanical by Ian Tregillis - quite an impressive novel.

It's an alternate history fantasy / scifi mash up, set in Europe in the early 1900's where the Dutch have invented 'Clakkers' or mechanical men powered by alchemy. The Clakkers are slaves used not only domestically, but also as defense against the enemy, in this case the French.

The story centres around Jax, a Clakker soon to become rogue - freed from the powerful alchemical force that drives their need to serve - who must now escape and find refuge.

Tregillis has created a memorable and original setting, a thoroughly engaging storyline, and interesting characters that drive the story. It explores individualism, ignorance what it means to have free will. And the writing is very good (I started this straight after another novel I put down, Flux, because the writing was average), and the contrast was very apparent.

Some of the chapters at the start were a little slow, but the novel really picked up after the 1/3 - 1/2 way mark. The ending didn't result in a lot of resolution but this is the first of the series - looking forward to the next book when it's out.